Cedrus LLC Has $358,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cedrus LLC decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,171 shares during the period. Cedrus LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,240,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.29. The company has a market cap of $185.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.26 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.17%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).